Friday, April 4, 2014

Next in our series on Krave Jerky is this Sweet Chipotle beef jerky. See our other reviews of Krave Jerky.

Krave Beef Jerky is a brand owned by Krave Pure Foods, Inc. based out of Sonoma, CA. It started in 2011 by Jon Sebastiani, who got started in the food business working on his family's winery in Sonoma.

This Sweet Chipotle beef jerky is described by the company's as being, "Made from authentic Mexican chipotle", and "...brings together natural smokiness, a sensation of moderate heat, and a hint of honey to create the perfect balance of sweet and smoky."

The first thing I taste from the surface of these pieces is a heavy sweetness, followed by a light smokiness. A light saltiness comes in along with a subtle bit of heat.

The chewing brings in a touch of the honey flavor, and perhaps a touch of the chipotle.

For being marketed as "Sweet Chipotle", it holds up somewhat. It is quite sweet, with touches of honey flavor. The chipotle, however, is subtle. What I taste is a light smokiness and hints of the smoked chile pepper flavor. Even the heat is very light, still ranking as "Mild" on my personal heat scale.

Otherwise, the flavor that defines this jerky is largely the sweet. The light smokiness is a secondary flavor, with the honey flavor a distant third, and the flavor of chipotle barely recognizable. After that, there's the usual saltiness and light touches of spice.

Overall, this Sweet Chipotle beef jerky has been the tamest of varieties we've reviewed from Krave. It might be suitable for folks who need mild flavored snacks, but there still is a faint bit of heat in the background.

I don't pick up any natural meat flavors.

Meat Consistency

These are slices of whole meat, sliced into slabs of small, medium, and large sizes, and sliced medium thickness.

This is a dry jerky with a slightly moist surface feel, and with a tender, easy chew. It doesn't chew dry, but feels slightly moist.

The chewing texture starts out feeling tender and soft, offering very little chewing resistance. It chews down easily and takes on a meaty feel, similar to thick sliced deli roast beef, but not quite as moist. Once chewed down to a soft mass, it feels very much like real meat, more comparable to roast beef.

I don't see any fat on these slices, but I do see gristle on a few of the larger pieces, some of which give off a rubbery chew. The chewing reveals a light amount of stringiness, but otherwise offers no unchewable tissues.

As far as clean eating goes, my fingers pick up some red pepper flakes, but otherwise no significant stickiness.

Snack Value

Krave Jerky typically sells for $6.99 per 3.25oz package in most stores. That works out to $2.15 per ounce.

For general jerky snacking purposes, at the $2.15 per ounce price, it's a fair value. Compared to other major brands of jerky sold in stores, it offers a similar snackability, not really any better nor any worse. The meat consistency and chewing seems better than the other brands, however.

As for being a "Sweet Chipotle" beef jerky, at the same $2.15 per ounce, it's fair value. While I do get a lot of sweet and touches of honey flavor, I don't really get much of the chipotle aside from a light smokiness.

Rating

I'm giving this an average rating.

This Sweet Chipotle beef jerky from Krave offers largely a strong sweet with a touch of honey flavor, and a light chipotle smokiness. It's mostly a mild flavored jerky with just a subtle bit of heat, not strong enough to do damage to softer tongues.

I didn't pick up enough chipotle flavor, however, to consider this a satisfying experience, assuming that I might be a chipotle lover. It's really more of a barbecue sauce flavor, being heavily sweet, lightly smoky, with touches of ketchup and bits of spice.

Otherwise, it's satisfying chewing, with the same tender, soft meat consistency and steak-like chewing that Krave is known for.

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About Best Beef Jerky

I'm Steve Johnson, and I've been in the Internet marketing and publishing business since 1997. I've been a life-long fan of beef jerky and decided to merge my profession with my snack food of choice, and gave birth to Best Beef Jerky.

I review beef jerky, turkey jerky, bison jerky, pretty much any meat jerky, even vegan jerky. I review meat sticks, biltong, cecina, carne seca, it's all fair game as long as it's meat, it's dried, and it's a snack.